The rain finally ended! After four days of nonstop downpour, we were finally able to see the sun again. I had never been so happy to see a blue sky.

The first thing we did once the clouds disappeared was hanging our clothes and blankets to dry. The constant rain left everything damp. The small stove in the wagon never was able to keep up with the endless downpour.

Only with the arrival of the sun were we finally able to dispel the pent-up frustrations of the past few days. We laid out on top of the wagon and sunbathed happily for hours.

I continued to feed Nox all the flames I gathered daily, leaving only enough so that the stallions could continue their near sprint down the mountain road. No matter how much fire he ate, Nox always wanted more. There was no change. All the energy continued to disappear without explanation.

“Are we still in the Free Cities territory. Charly asked, while holding up a map. None of the landmarks on it were useful, so all we could do for now was keep moving north and hope the next village had better directions.

“We should be in Dacia territory by now.” My father replied hesitantly. “I specifically took a route that avoids the Novus Kingdom borders.”

“Dacia?” I questioned, hearing the unfamiliar name.

“Right, you would not know.” My father replied. “After the fall of the Immortal Empire and Aurielle’s death, King Sebastion was only able to take control of the central part of the empire. After some years, the south east became the Free Cities. The west broke off to become the Ciel Empire, and south across the sea became the State of Aegyt. The north east that we will be traveling through was much less cohesive. As one of the most corrupt and oppressed areas during your rule, after your death the area fractured into dozens of small kingdoms. Dacia is one of them.”

“Things went that poorly for King Sebastion? He could not even keep my empire in one piece?”

“It did not happen right away. From what I understand, most of the empire was happy for his rule at first. Back when the new Novus kingdom was run by the Knights Council things were fairly peaceful, but after it fell apart many of the Chancellors or their surviving family acted like Chancellor Otto. They broke off their territory into its own free state. I hear the wars that followed were… severe. Even to this day, King Sebastion refuses to accept their defection and claim their territories as part of his kingdom.”

“Bullheaded fool.” I mumbled. “If only his wife was still alive. She was the one that kept everyone together.”

“I have been wondering about this for a while, but did you know king Sebastion… before his war to kill you?” My father asked.

“Know him?” I replied derisively. “I practically raised him. He was the childhood sweetheart of Lucia, my protégé. He came over every day to see her, to the point where he nearly annoyed me to death long before actually killing me.”

“Lucia? King Sebastion’s Wife was your protégé?” My father remarked in surprise.

I nodded, looking up at the bright blue sky. I could still remember how she used to cling to my leg. She was so shy when she was little, and grew up so fast.

“Ten years before my death, I returned to the realm and tried to correct the mistakes of my absence. One of those corrections was finding a new ruler, one who actually cared and would help the people more than I could. Lucia is the one who inspired me to bring about a reform. She was so adorable back then. Only eleven years old and full of dreams. She developed an innate talent that took the form of bright blue flames that affected the soul, very much like mine. However, unlike me, her talent did not raise the dead. Her flames could heal the injured and calm the mind just as easily as it could bring pain and burn away evil.”

I sighed, remembering the beauty in her power. It was everything I had always wished for my own talent. It drew me to her, but her kindness made me stay. The small child always suffered to help others, no matter the cost. In the end it caused her death.

“I was against her marrying Sebastion, but that was the one time she refused to listen to me.”

“There is no mention of you in the story of king Sebastion’s childhood.” Charly said, looking at me suspiciously.

“Of course not.” I replied, waving my hand dismissively. “You think I showed myself as the Empress? If I revealed myself in that little village in the mountains, it would have caused an uproar, and I would never have gotten a single moment of piece. I had a trinket back then that could disguise the color of my eyes and flames, and I had a new body that had not been seen by any of my chancellors yet. I changed my name and passed myself off as a vagrant sorceress that just moved to town.”

“You!” Charly shouted. “You are the sorceress who taught King Sebastion!”

I let out an exacerbated sigh. “Yes, I taught him. He would not leave us alone. Every time I tried to teach Lucia; there he was. It was extremely annoying. In the end Lucia convinced me to teach him as well.”

“What happened?” My father asked in a low tone. “It is said you killed King Sebastion’s wife.”

“Envy happened.” I replied, closing my eyes. “While I was closing the doorways to the realm, Lucia sacrificed herself to save Sebastion and was infected with Envy’s energy. She began to transform into a Demonkin. There was no way to save her.”

“So, you killed her.” My father said.

“Yes, I killed her.” I said, feeling tears well up in my eyes, but I quickly sook them away. “It is better to die a human than fall and become a monster.”

“Just like my mum.” Donte spoke, slowly.

“Sebastian hated me for making that choice. Regardless of the circumstances, I killed his wife. He will never forgive me for that.”

“I cannot really blame him.” My father said, grabbing hold of my mother’s hand and squeezing it tightly. “If I was in his shoes, I might have reacted the same way.”

“I have never blamed him.” I said, shaking my head. “My death was necessary. I just wish I had been there sooner. If Lucia had survived, everything would have been so much easier. All my preparations were for her to become the new Empress. Sebastion was never meant to take the throne. I Even left my Chronicle to her. As someone with a similar power to my own, she would have been able to use the lifetime worth of power I stored inside of it to protect the land. Even Envy might have hesitated facing that combined might.”

“You mean the Chronicle was not created so that you could restore your power?” My father asked in surprise. “It has been all you wanted since you were reborn.”

“I can regain power my power if I have the time and resources. I have done it countless times without the Chronicle. If it was not for Envy’s invasion, I would not care about the Chronicle very much at all, but because of it I do not have the time to regain my strength the normal way. So, if I am to fight Envy, I need it.”

“And now it is in King Sebastion’s hands.” My father replied.

“Even with the threat of invasion, he is not likely to help me regain my power. He has always been overconfident in his own power. It is what got Lucia killed.”

Charly continued to ask for stories about King Sebastion’s childhood, and I made sure to embellish the most embarrassing memories of him. It was petty, but it made me smile when I told my family about the time Sebastion lost his pants while training and when he was beaten up by an old granny he did not know had once been a soldier.

Our wagon started rumbling downhill, and for the first time in four days of travel, we saw people.

Lined up at the only bridge across a deep wide river were hundreds of soldiers. Their armor glinted in the afternoon sun. They moved in time with each other as small squads patrolled the area around the river. Tents and fortifications were set up around the bridge, showing that the soldiers had been there for some time, and were prepared to defend the location for some time. From each of the fortifications a flag fluttered proudly in the wind.

“That is Novus Kingdom Flag.” My father said, squinting his eyes. “What are they doing this far in Dacia territory?”

“Should we turn around?” Donte asked nervously.

My mother shook her head. “They have already spotted us. Turning around would only make us seem suspicious, and they would send calvary after us to see why we fled. Our stallions are fast, but pulling the wagon slows them down quite a bit. We cannot outrun them.”

“It is better to simply submit to the checkpoint.” My father continued. “Nobody but us know Aurielle is inside Wren and we are not fugitives in the Novus Kingdom. Our status as knights should still hold up even if we are travelling outside the borders.”

Our wagon rumbled forward and I removed my direct control of Mordere and Mitis so their eyes would not glow. My father took the reins and we continued forward at a much slower pace. A soldier moved to block the bridge as we approached. A few archers knocked their arrows and pulled the string taunt, aiming them towards us.

“Halt!” A soldier commanded in a domineering tone. “Dismount the carriage and prepare for inspection. If you have weapons, place them on the ground.”

My parents stepped down from wagon and complied without complaint. Charly, Donte, and I followed suit. All of us stood in a line at the soldier’s command. The soldier blinked a few times as he looked from my mother, to Donte, then to me.

The soldier motioned to another nearby. “Get the captain. I may need his help with this one. Tell them we have stopped a well-armed group with three innate talents.” The other soldier nodded and quickly ran off.

“Which battalion are you part of? What are soldiers of the Novus Kingdom doing this far east?” My father asked, eyeing the soldier curiously. “I cannot imagine Dacia is too happy about you blocking one of the only river crossings in the region.”

“Silence bandits!” The soldier shouted.

“Bandits?” My father remarked, squinting his eyes. “Son, I outranked you before you were born. I am a knight under General Arthur, and I know for a fact you do not set up an encampment at a river crossing in an enemy nation to capture bandits.”

“I said silence!” The soldier shouted again. His heavy metal gauntlet slammed into my father’s stomach.

My father did not even flinch at the blow. Instead, he grinned at the guard. From the corner of my eye, I saw the bracer on his arm begin to glow. I could see the fingers of his left hand tapping rapidly on my mother’s. “I see. I know what is going on now. You are not from the Novus Kingdom, are you? You fly their colors, give travelers a hard time, raid a few villages, and blame it all on them. Which kingdom are you actually from?”

The soldier took a stumbled backwards as he looked at my father as if he had just seen a monster. “C-captain! I need you here!”

“Seems like I guessed right.” My father said.

Before the soldier could react a large wall of ice sprouted from the ground, shielding us from view of the nearby archers. My mother moved simultaneously. She grabbed hold of the soldier’s armor as he reached for his sword. With a twisting jerk of her arms, the soldier lost his balance and collapsed under the weight of his own armor. He was unharmed by the fall, but by the time he managed to right himself, my father had retrieved our weapons and had the soldier at blade point.

A few arrows embedded themselves into the wall of ice as the nearby soldiers rushed towards us. There was a crackle of lightning as my mother moved to meet the new enemies. Their metal armor did little to protect them from the electricity arcing from her blade.

“Stay behind the wall and move towards the wagon!” My father shouted as he tossed Charly his crossbow and me my dagger. He then handed Donte the shorter of his two swords, before turning back to the soldier. My father’s boot slammed down on the soldier’s head, leaving him dazed and unresponsive.

I connected with the two stallions, and commanded them to pull the wagon closer to us. Just as they started to moved, three arrows flew out, piercing their hide. The injuries were not serious to an undead, but I had to move fast and take control of the fire in their body before it flowed out of their wounds and created a spectacle.

My father created a second ice wall in front of the wagon. Following his lead, we sprinted towards it as fast as we could.

Before I could climb into the wagon the rumbling sound of hoofbeats echoed through the air. I looked over to see more than two dozen war horses charging across the bridge. The nearby archers had already started to reposition so they could get a clear shot, and more foot soldiers than I cared to count were charging towards us like an endless tide.

Among the charging soldiers, my eyes were drawn to a single figure. The only man not wearing armor. He was walking at a slow pace as the soldiers flowed around him. His pants and shirt looked like they were many times to big for him, giving him the look of a child that tried to wear their parents’ clothes, despite his towering frame.

Charly and Donte scrambled onto the wagon. There was a flash as my mother appeared next to me. Before I could command the stallions to turn around and flee, charging calvary had already begun surrounding us.

The man in loose clothing had reached the ice wall my father created. His eyes began to glow with an amber light, and his body began to swell in size. His muscles bulged violently, veins protruding like snakes under his skin. His loose clothes were pulled tight and nearly ripped. Within seconds, the man had grown three times taller and swelled with giant muscles.

A single swing of his arm brought down the thick ice wall. The archers pulled back their bowstrings, but the man motioned for them to stop. The calvary had completely surrounded us now, and the remaining soldiers were not far behind. We were captured.